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About Impact Monterey County

About Impact Monterey County

Impact Monterey County (IMC) is a collaborative effort of nonprofits, businesses, public agencies and the community working together to identify the most effective ways to improve life in our county. IMC is employed multiple outreach and engagement strategies to shine a light on our community aspirations related to education, income (economic self-sufficiency) and health. The benefit to our community will be the alignment of stakeholders toward common goals and measurements that improve conditions for all.

How Did IMC Get Started?

IMC got started as an idea of the staff at United Way Monterey County. United Way Monterey County (UWMC), like other United Way branches, has long believed in the importance of using data to make decisions about how resources are best allocated. But in the past, UWMC had only been able to conduct smaller, more localized assessments. When an opportunity arose to get a sizeable, one-time grant from Capital One, UWMC staff leapt at the chance to expand their vision and bring in a number of other organizations—both private and public sector—to join in on a much larger project, which has evolved into Impact Monterey County.

Who Is Involved in IMC and How Is IMC organized?

Multiple entities are involved in the implementation of IMC. The focus is on community-wide ownership of the process and results. IMC envisions participation from the public, private and nonprofit sectors, as well as from the “everyday” resident.

In Phase I, IMC was coordinated by Steering Committee composed of a cross-sector collaborative of individuals and institutions. Under the Steering Committee there were five different Operations Teams.

In Phase II, IMC was coordinated by the Phase II Task Force, again composed of a cross-sector collaborative of individuals and institutions, with three operations teams.

In Phase III, our cross-sector collaborative analyzed the data that we collected and began preparing for action. These activities were coordinated by the Phase III Task Force, with the support of three operations teams: Data Team, Communications Team, and Sustainability Team.

Now, we are implementing the framework that was designed in Phase III and workng with our co-creatros to make the tools as useful as possible!

What Are the Goals of IMC?

The goals of IMC are to:

Assess: To assess and measure important community needs

Collaborate: To identify other community assessments and use existing data to ensure efficiencies and to streamline IMC

Align: To align stakeholders toward common goals and measurements that improve conditions for all

Implement/Take Action: To establish a common agenda for addressing specific issues impacting communities throughout Monterey County and to take actionable steps toward accomplishing said agenda

Measure/Sustain: To establish a plan to measure progress made toward common agenda and to continue the assessment process at regular intervals going forward

The first phase of the Data Team’s work focused on gathering and analyzing secondary data, e.g. information from studies that have already been conducted relating to quality of life issues in Monterey County. ICCS pepared a detailed report on this secondary research that can be viewed here.

The second phase of the Data Team’s work focused on gathering and analyzing primary data collected directly from Monterey County residents. IMC is doing this because we strongly believe that the public’s voice needs to be incorporated into the Steering Committee’s decisions in setting their common agenda and action plan. Therefore we actively engaged with the public from June 16 – November 30, 2014 to get their thoughts about their aspirations for quality of life in Monterey County. During this period we conducted a survey and small group conversations throughout the County. Our goal was to have 1-2% of the population of Monterey County (approximately 4,150 – 8,300 people) participate in our survey and community conversations this summer. We received 4,220 valid surveys from adults, 2,905 from 11th graders, and conducted more than 70 group conversations with nearly 600 participants total. You can read executive summaries of our findings at the Results tab above.

Core Values

INCLUSIVENESS: Reflect the residents of Monterey County in terms of the demographic, geographic, and socio-economic makeup of the study’s participants

COURAGE: Ensure that the results of the study will lead to collective action

ACCEPTANCE: Accept and be open to all ideas that are expressed and uncovered during the study

RESPECT: Honor each participant’s perspective and treat all with dignity

EVIDENCE: Be unbiased and thorough in the interpretation and dissemination of study data and results